Timeless + Elegant Black-Tie Washington D.C. Wedding

March 21, 2016
Categories: Real Weddings, Traditional Elegance
Tags: glamorous, real weddings

In the world of weddings, there’s nothing quite like a classic black-tie affair. But this D.C. wedding is in a league of it’s own. Every single detail is absolute perfection—from the elegant invitation suite and gorgeous calligraphied mirror from Meant To Be Calligraphy to the Bride’s stunning Monique Lhuillier lace wedding dress and beautiful bridal makeup from Amie Decker Beauty. See each and every pretty moment from Jodi Miller Photography and Bowen Films in The Vault!

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From The Bride…When Doug and I were planning our wedding, we knew we wanted to provide a unique, personal and above all, fun, experience for all of our guests. Since more than half of our guest list was not from the D.C. area where we live and I also grew up, we decided it was important to find a venue that would give our guests a true “DC experience” and something a little different from a traditional ballroom wedding. We looked at several venues but when we got to the Top of the Hay on the hotel’s 9th floor and saw the space which was framed with French doors leading to a wrap-around balcony with a commanding view of The White House, Monuments and the Potomac River, we knew it was the perfect spot for our reception. The view combined with the old hotel’s storied history, excellent service, location, and catering of the Hay-Adams made for the perfect venue.

Our wedding was a black tie city affair, but we also wanted to incorporate details from Bethany Beach, DE where we met, our families have homes and where we have developed life-long friendships with so many of our friends. Balancing the formal look of the wedding with some more casual touches from the beach also helped give the wedding a more relaxed vibe which was very important to us. To do this, we used Doug’s old life-saving buoy as our guest book and tied in popular places in Bethany such as late night passed burgers and fries in Boardwalk Fry cups and a candy cart with our favorite treats from Candy Kitchen, the local candy shop at the Delaware beaches. We also had beautiful custom save the dates that told a bit of our story from the Beach to D.C. from Cheree Berry Paper. I am still getting compliments on these!

It was critical that our guests had a great time and felt taken care of throughout the weekend. We had a casual welcome drinks reception on Friday at one of our friends restaurants so guests could get to know one another and a day-long farewell party at my parents Alexandria home on Sunday. Most importantly, we had an amazing band, The Hudson Project, who kept the dance floor packed the entire night with all of our friends and family of all age groups. I don’t think I have ever had more fun!

The final aspect of our wedding that really made it special was the ceremony. I will admit with all of the time spent focusing on the details of the reception, I had not anticipated how special the ceremony would be to me. When the priests, both of whom were my high school Principals which added another personal touch, announced us as husband and wife, the church erupted into the biggest cheer I have ever heard. The joy of that moment coupled with the love and happiness of those most important to us was something I will never forget and truly did make me feel like the luckiest and happiest girl in the world.